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How many times have you sat down to focus on deep work, only to get a dozen pings from half a dozen different messaging apps?
A question from a co-worker on Slack.
A reply to your Twitter thread.
A client request on Microsoft Teams.
No wonder you feel stressed juggling all these screens and trying to get back to everyone in time. Switching between screens is not only messy, but it can detract from your productivity as you adjust to the interface of each app and go through the different messaging threads on each.
In this blog post, we introduce the apps that solve this very problem. Not only do these tools unify all your comms in a single place, but they also come with a number of cool features which can make your life easier, simpler, and more organized.
There are several ways to bring all your messaging apps together.
Your next job is to find the right one.
Whether you’re looking for a new app to house all your messaging apps or would prefer a native experience where you stay in your preferred app and colleagues use theirs, we’re certain our list of apps that combine all messaging apps has the right option for you.
Read on for the six apps solving the problem of too many messaging apps.
There are several apps that do a great job of combining all your messages into a single app. Which one you choose will depend on your needs and what apps you use in your day-to-day communications.
Here’s an overview of some of the apps in the market:
Mio lets you use your combination of Microsoft Teams, Slack, Webex, and Zoom Team Chat to send messages cross-platform.
Say you’re a Slack user but your colleagues prefer Microsoft Teams.
Instead of having to switch to Teams to stay in touch with your colleagues, you can send a message from Slack and they receive it in Teams.
See below how Tom has sent a message, @ mentioned, and sent an image to Meredith who uses Slack.
That’s not all that’s supported either.
When you choose to connect your apps, you can send all these cross-platform:
To start sending cross-platform messages, visit the Mio website.
If Mio is your go-to B2B cross-platform app, Beeper unifies all of your personal communications.
Launched back in 2021, the app integrates 15 of the most commonly used messaging apps to create a single inbox.
In the screenshot below, you can see how Beeper shows all messages on a single screen while also keeping track of the source app:
The tool is available on MacOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Chrome OS, so you can rest assured that you’re always connected regardless of the device you use.
Here are some of the features you can find on Beeper:
You can sign up for Beeper here.
Franz is another great tool that unifies 70 different chat services. The app integrates both personal messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, but also business tools like Zendesk and Microsoft Teams, making it a great tool for streamlining comms across the board.
One thing that makes Franz different is that it allows you to integrate multiple accounts of the same service.
Say, for instance, you have your own personal Messenger account, but you also have another one for your business. You can integrate both and have all messages arrive on the same screen.
As you can see in the screenshot above, there are several Gmail accounts integrated in the same Franz app alongside WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
The free version of the app contains ads, so if that’s something that may bother you you can go to a paid plan for as little as $2.99 per month. The free version also limits you to up to three services, whereas the paid plans offer more options.
Whichever plan you choose, you can integrate any of the available services, use the app across multiple devices, and enable desktop notifications if you like.
You can give Franz a go here.
IM+ takes pride in taking two minutes to get set up while integrating all of the most popular messaging apps.
Something that makes IM+ different from other apps is its integration with ChatGPT so you don’t have to wrack your brain every time you struggle to come up with a reply. Instead, you can use AI to generate witty or interesting responses within seconds.
Here are a few of the other cool features:
The tool is available on iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac. You can download it here.
Shift is a desktop tool that helps you synchronize not only your messaging apps but also calendars, drives, and workflows.
The creators behind Shift are focused on boosting productivity, so Shift allows you to launch new web tabs directly from the app while also accessing all your favorite Google extensions without ever leaving the app.
In the screenshot above, for instance, you can see that the user has integrated Spotify and Asana into Shift while also keeping an immediate access to all of their Google services as well as bookmarks, calendars, and emails.
Here are some of the other great features:
Texts is another great app that focuses on streamlining your personal communications on a single screen. The app runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux while access on iOS and Android is still under development.
The app is appealing for its simplicity as the screen looks very much like a simple messaging screen (only this time, you see all of your apps in the same place).
For instance, below you can see that while Vivek has messaged from WhatsApp and Shriya from Messenger, all messages appear the same in the Texts interface.
All your data stays on your device and messages are sent directly to the target platform which means that your messages are always end-to-end encrypted.
Some of the features you can expect using Texts are:
Texts doesn’t show you any ads, so in order to make use of it you’d need to subscribe for the service starting at $12.5/month (billed yearly). You can start with Texts here.
To get every message you ever send into a single app is impossible. The technology behind each app means that total cross-platform messaging is not achievable.
For example, you’re never going to be able to send a Twitter DM directly to someone who uses Microsoft Teams. But there are ways to achieve certain scenarios in bit-part solutions or by introducing a new mailbox for them to live in.
The right way to go about this is to select the apps you can integrate and find the right middleware of the unification method for your business.
For help combining Microsoft Teams, Slack, Webex, or Zoom, check out Mio.
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